He Said / She Said: Replacing Pierre Gauthier

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, one question has oft been asked by both local and national media: Will Pierre Gauthier be remain at the helm for the Montreal Canadiens.

While he may survive past February 27th, it is looking increasingly likely that the Montreal Canadiens will go in a new direction with regards to its management team.

With that in mind, our resident writers Bryan Willey and Rosalyn Roy were asked about who they would like to see replace the embattled GM.

Bryan Willey: I think there is a difference between who I would like to see as GM and who will ultimately be given the role.

In my mind, the top-two candidates have to be Jim Nill and Rick Dudley. They could turn the team around in a short time and, out of the names available, are by far the most qualified. However the chances of either of them ultimately be named GM border on nil - pun intended.

Of those who have a chance, the person I would most like to see is Pierre McGuire. I have always been a fan of his, love his passion and the fact that he has knowledge for hockey at its many various levels.

He has been wrong on a couple of calls, but overall has been right a heck of a lot more.

Ultimately, I believe the GM will be one of Julien Brisebois, Serge Savard or Vincent Damphousse.

Frankly, this scares me.

Rosalyn Roy: Bryan, I am also convinced that who I want and who will be the next Habs GM are likely two different beasts.

I'd agree with you on Jim Nill, though I am not a huge fan of Dudley. Nill has an excellent track record and, of course, speaks French. Dudley doesn't and, while he did do his best with Atlanta and is now with the Leafs organization, he wouldn't be one of my first choices.

In fact, in looking at the Leafs, who are rebuilding nicely, they have a potential candidate we could pillage in Claude Loiselle, who is currently an Assistant General Manager with the club.

Negotiating and cap space management are Loiselle's strong suits, two items that have been sorely lacking in Montreal. The Tomas Kaberle acquisition to supposedly fix the power play is a good example of what not to do, and I doubt Loiselle would have made that mistake.

I do think that the next Habs GM is quite likely to be Larry Carriere. He's a direct hire by Geoff Molson and was clearly shoved behind the bench not for his hidden coaching talents but because the head office wanted eyes inside the room. Carriere also speaks the requisite French.

I'll agree that Savard is also a candidate, albeit a minor one, because he also has ties to the Molsons. Better him than Bob Gainey at this point.

Bryan Willey: It all makes you wonder why Molson has not acted yet?

I am relatively confident that Gauthier is not his man so my guess is that the man in question is currently employed by another organization.

Because of this assumption I do not think that Carriere is part of the plans going forward.

There have been reports that Molson has been in contact with Savard. My take on this is that Molson is looking at hiring a rookie GM and wants the mentoring ability of a Savard to help along the way.

Personally, I would view this as a mistake because Savard has been completely out of the loop for more than a decade. The Canadiens need someone with in-depth knowledge of the game today.

In regards to Loiselle, I wonder how important he really is in during negotiations. If the Habs wanted to sign Brad Richards for five million dollars and the Rangers offered him seven million then the chances of him coming to Montreal would hover between slim to none, regardless of Loiselle's talents.

If he is simply a means of cap management then the organization should hire one of the best CFO's in Quebec and have him run the books.

I am thinking more along the lines of bringing in a man who can bring back the cockiness, pride, and arrogance that made this team so great. In my eyes, McGuire leads that race.

Rosalyn Roy: I'm not really willing to speculate on what Molson will or will not do. I do agree Savard is well past his expiry date when it comes to GM potential. I'm pretty sick of the old boy's club that has been in charge of this club for far too long.

Contract negotiation and proper cap management are essential in the realities of today's NHL. And Loiselle has perfectly acceptable credentials and experience that extend beyond that a mere accountant would obviously lack. Whatever one may think of the Maple Leafs, Brian Burke does not fill his head office with incompetent people.

The Habs' arrogance, self-entitlement and cockiness are not attributes that have served them well in the recent past.

Pierre McGuire's passion aside, if he were as ideal a candidate as he seems to think he is, he'd have held a GM position for years now, or at least risen through the upper ranks of an NHL team.

McGuire is pretty low on my list of candidates I want retooling this team. He has bashed this team for too many years for my liking, even when they got it right like during the Jaroslav Halak for Lars Eller trade, which in hindsight was a solid deal.

He enjoys the press and sensationalizes pretty much anything and everything. He is far too emotional at times, hindering his ability for logical, clear headed decisions. And, frankly, his mouth runs most of the time

Arrogance, cockiness and pride are not what this team needs and not what has made them great in the past either. What made them great was a combination of talent, skill, hard work, a solid pipeline and good luck.

The organization needs practical solutions and I don't see anything in McGuire that makes me think he could offer more than any other mainstream pundit.

He may have been right about a lot of things, but the bottom line is I don't like him and I don't see anything that makes me trust him to retool this team either.

Bryan Willey: That's where I disagree. The best GM's surround themselves with the best talent. We need a guy with direction to surround himself with a capologist, an assistant GM, and other qualified people.

Sure, bring Loiselle in to help with cap but not as the guy making key decisions. Kind of like Nill to Holland or Brisebois to Yzerman.

This needs to be done with a team effort.

Rosalyn Roy: If we're talking mouthpiece only who can pander to the press while his underlings do all the actual work then yes, Pierre McGuire will suffice nicely.

Claude Loiselle ran Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate and, as a result, has experience assessing upcoming talent. As an ex-hockey player he is still young enough to have some insight into the game that does not pre-date the last Canadiens Cup win. It's not solely about his experience in the financial end of things, but rather his resume as a whole.

As an experienced assistant GM for two NHL teams now, he's got solid credentials and experience that I find sorely lacking McGuire.

Bryan Willey: Regardless, McGuire is still my choice. A local guy with an indepth knowledge of all levels of hockey.

It's easy to assume that his knowledge is courtesy of the the TSN team, but it isn't. He calls the local TSN 990 everyday and has conversations on so many players, their stats, their home town and their junior careers.

His experience as an assistant GM is from to long ago, but his critical comments towards a lack of scouting in Quebec, his comments on the Habs' horrendous pro scouting, everything is spot on.

Regardless of expeirence, I like his attitude and the fact he is right a lot more than he is wrong.




What do you think? Who would you choose as the Habs next GM?

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Bryan is a Marketer by day, writer for HabsAddict.com by night and full time fan of the game. Follow me on twitter @BryanWilley78 but don't bother looking for me on Facebook, I'm just too old for that now!

Rosalyn used to frequent the old Forum during her early childhood when her father was a corporate season ticket holder, where she fell in love with Larry Robinson, so her lifelong obsession with the Habs is entirely his fault.

He Said / She Said is regular column on HabsAddict slated to appear on a bi-weekly basis.

(Photo by Getty Images North America)

Posted in: bryan willey,claude loiselle,detroit red wings,montreal canadiens,pierre gauthier,pierre mcguire,rosalyn roy,serge savard,toronto maple leafs